As part of Women's Month we spent the month focused on physical health, spiritual health and equally important financial health. We sat down with Emily from A Woman's Worth to learn more about the importance of financial health and how small steps in your daily routine can make a big difference to your family’s financial stability.
Women hold back from investing because they think they don’t know enough about it or they don’t know it’s an option for them.
It’s never too late to start and to learn how your money can translate into something meaningful for you and how you live your life, whatever your goals and aspirations. It may begin with a simple conversation. Ask your friends what they’re doing. Do they have a pension? Do they invest? Even just starting to have those conversations is half the work.
Organizing your finances, from protection to pensions, is important when you become a parent, but it can seem a daunting addition to your to-do list. Support from a financial planner can really help.
Being a new mum can be exhausting. Of course, you were prepared for sleepless nights, colic and 3am nappy changes, but you probably didn’t expect you would need a degree in civil engineering to collapse your buggy, squeeze it into the car, then get it back up again. Nor could you have ever anticipated the huge sense of achievement you feel when you’ve managed to have a shower and wash your hair before you leave the house. It was a point very neatly highlighted during the pandemic, when mums across the world had to add ‘teacher’ to their job description, too.
A recent report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies found that where women earned less than men, they did double the amount of housework during the pandemic and 41% more childcare. Even where they earned more than their partner, they still did 6% more housework and 22% more childcare.
Three key notes for parents when navigating your financial health:
1: Talk to a trusted financial planner:
Talking to a financial planner doesn’t mean being told what to do or losing control of your cash. It’s about getting a helping hand and putting a plan in place that works for you and your family to ultimately help improve and protect your financial future. It’s also about better understanding your appetite for risk following a change in circumstance. If done well and with the right financial planner, it’s one less thing on that ever-growing to-do list.
2: Financial Health should be a priority:
Money is never far from our minds. Sat at our desk, or in the middle of the night, we find ourselves thinking. ‘Will I ever be able to retire?’ or ‘what if I need money fast to cover a medical bill?’ Feeling that you’re not in control of your finances is like the floor dropping from under you. The effect our financial wellbeing has on us is undeniable.
Confidence is central to financial wellbeing. It’s not just knowing what an interest rate is, or the different sorts of MPFs that are available. It’s an awareness of your own financial situation; how much money you have, how much you spend, or how much you need to retire on. Explaining and answering those questions and creating a personal plan to match is what advice is all about.
3: It’s never too late to plan:
It’s well established that women face barriers when it comes to gaining financial parity with men, given gender inequality in pay, the workplace, pensions and other areas. It’s a challenge that has been made harder by the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which have had an impact.
If you want to have an informal chat about financial health or you are looking for some support, contact Emily at A Woman's Worth to learn more about a community of women who are here to support!
